Our PreSchool Blog

Today was a great day for puzzles, but not just any puzzles…puzzles of our very own names! The students put together puzzles of their names as well as the names of their friends.
A child’s name is quite possibly the most important word in their young and growing vocabulary and therefore can be a great avenue to letter recognition. They begin to not only memorize the letters in their own names but also the letters in the names of their classmates. The children took great ownership in their name puzzles and were excited to take them home to show to their families.
We will use our names for many activities and learning games throughout the school year and these puzzles are great preparation and practice for what’s to come.

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We read Zoo Animals this week in reading group and worked on the sight words here, is and the.  All of these sight words were found in our book and we will be adding them to our word wall on Monday.  These words are called Dolch Sight Words.  Because these words are not able to be learned through the use of pictures and are meaningless on their own, these sight words must be recognized at at glance before a child can read with confidence.  Helping your child identify the words we are working in school in the books you read with them at home is a great way to support their learning and help them develop a better sight word foundation.  For a list of pre-k/kindergarten sight words and downloadable list you can print and cut out to use as flash cards, click the picture.

Pre-K Reading Group

It is always an exciting day when Ms. Joanie stops by!  The kids danced happily along side  the beat of Ms. Joanie’s drum, clapping their hands and stomping their feet.  It proved to be another musical extravaganza!  Everybody got a chance to build their own beat on Ms. Joanie’s Drum and the kids loved it!

Miss Joanie with another great exercise for the kids to learn tempo and rhythm

The Cincinnati Museum Center visits to talk about our five senses

Today, the preschoolers had the chance to experience their 5 senses in a whole new way!  Mr. Dan from the Cincinnati Museum Center was back again and proved to be as enthusiastic and exciting as ever. We enjoyed exploring the jobs of each of our senses and taking the time to understand how important those jobs truly are to us. From using special spy glasses to see the white light and rainbows that are all around us to training our ears to listen for different types of sounds. The children were excited to guess the secret smells and tastes that Mr. Dan brought along. Everyone had a chance to feel the funny vibrations of a tuning fork that tickled our hands and it was great to pet and visit with our friend Pokey the Turtle too! We look forward to more visits from the Cincinnati Museum Center in throughout the school year.

Today we practiced our developing scissor skills in Ms. Katie’s straw cutting/sorting activity.  The children had a ball cutting small bits of drinking straws and watching them shoot across the table…we didn’t know practicing our scissor skills could be so much fun!  Cutting is a wonderful activity to develop the small muscles in your child’s hand which is essential for writing.  For other small muscle activities just click the picture!

For more small muscle development skills activities click the picture above.

Color recognition is learned quickly through the use of color mats and sorting.

Today we used a color sorting mat to practice color recognition and sorting.  The children loved taking the special items out of their containers and placing them with the correct color circle.  From brown footballs to yellow bananas to green frogs, the toddlers enjoyed playing and sorting with these fun items!

Group time with the Toddlers

It is only the third week of school and it is amazing to see how well the children sit so patiently at group time!  This morning we read a story about sharing with our friends and talked about how to be a good friend.  We also played a fun game on the magnetic board by putting different color crayons in the corresponding pockets of the overalls.  The kids loved getting their turn to go up to the board!

Mixing primary colors to produce secondary colors with the toddlers

The toddlers this week have been practicing their color recognition and experimenting with primary and secondary color mixing. It is a wonderful experience for the children to see how primary colors mix to form secondary colors. The objectives of these exercises are color recognition, the ability to demonstrate creative expression and creating fine motor development. This exercise is one of the favorites of the toddlers. They get to manipulate the different colored solutions in the ziplock bags without creating a mess!

Paul Klee “The Golden Fish” Preschool Preview from Creative Tots on Vimeo.

This year the children began their art projects by studying the applications and techniques of the Swiss-born  German painter Paul Klee (pronounced <Klay>).  Paul Klee was known for his simple, child-like perspective on painting and expressionism.  Many of you may recall our art projects last year learning about his friend and colleague Wassily Kandinsky who together with Klee eventually came to be considered the historical masters of color theory making their art a wonderful example for preschoolers to study and imitate.  Throughout the year, Ms. Penny will help develop the kids appreciation for the various mediums of art and design by using well-known examples from the art world.  The children quickly learn to recognize some of the more famous painters by trying their hand at the various techniques used commonly by these great historical figures.  The early stages of the project are always thoroughly enjoyed by the children as you can see in this brief video of them working on Paul Klee’s “The Golden Fish.”